I contracted with Diamond Painting and Home Improvement, Inc. located in Warwick, RI (hereinafter referred to “Diamond Painting”), to install crown molding top and bottom throughout my home; remove and install all new molding around windows, closets and doors, install eight “new” interior doors, remove three ceiling fans and repair ceilings, remove three-piece medicine cabinet in hall bath and paint 100% of the interior of my home. The project began on January 23, 2017 and ended on March 4, 2017. Toward the end of the project, I prepared a punch list of things that needed attention, fixed and/or corrected. The list was beyond a punch list, and the project was far from being completed in spite of Diamond Painting stating that “the scope of the work was done.” As I examined and discussed the shoddy work performed along with an itemized punch list with Ms. Bibby (president of Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc.) as we toured each room, I pointed out all of the unprofessional workmanship that was said to be completed. Ms. Bibby continued to recite that the “scope of the work was complete and Ms. Bibby demanded full payment.” The below list is not a complete list but does represent most of what went wrong with the work Diamond Painting performed in my home.
1) The very first door they hung was hung “upside down.” Mr. Bibby removed and replaced that door. The door hinges cut into the door slabs and/or door jambs were all cut improperly. Some hinges were installed deep into the wood and/or crooked causing tension on the new doors. This tension would not allow the doors to shut properly; they sprung open and one hall closet door ripped on the face side of the door below the top hinge. One bathroom door was left without even a door handle
2) Some doors were installed backwards with the vertical beveled edge on the wrong side
3) Improper cuts were made where crown molding was joined together. Gobs of caulking was applied in those large adjoining gaps. Mr. Bibby used way too much caulking on many of the moldings. In fact, there was so much caulking that when it was removed, it was the thickness of a “childs jump rope!” Joints were not joined tightly together on crown or base molding leaving wide gaps
4) After removal of the hall bath medicine cabinet, the holes in the walls were left unrepaired and unpainted yet Mr. Bibby painted the rest of the bathroom walls
5) Mr. Bibby got paint all over the door hardware, including the new door hinges
6) Many door handles were installed upside down or were mismatched e.g., brass on one side of the door and brushed nickel on the other side of the same door. Similarly, the handle on one side of the door was in the correct position yet the handle on the other side of the same door was upside down
7) Some AC ceiling registers were installed backwards e.g., directing the air flow toward the walls instead of out into the rooms. The screws used to reinstall those registers did not match. One bedroom register was left lying on the floor instead of being installed
8) Paint supplies, tools and trash were left on an unprotected hardwood bedroom floor without a tarp or construction paper under those items
9) One strip of base molding wasn’t even nailed to the wall in bedroom No. 2. In many areas, there was an over-abundance of nails in a short piece of molding (e.g., I counted 30 nails in a 29 inch wide piece of molding). On another transition piece of wood from the tile kitchen floor to the hallway floor, I counted over 30 nails in a 32 inch wide strip of transition wood
10) Many paint roller tracks were seen on the living room ceiling as if a partially dry roller was used. The cut-in paint along the edges of the ceiling appeared to be a different shade of white paint than what was applied in the middle of the ceiling. The area where the two ceiling fans were removed from was not properly sanded prior to being painted
11) Mr. Bibby failed to cover and/or protect my floors, living room furniture, headboard and bedding from paint spatter. “Nothing” was spared from paint spatter – it’s everywhere
12) A filler strip of wood used to fill in the gap between the wall and right side of the molding slipped down about five inches on the bow window in the living room. Instead of putting that strip of filler wood back into its correct position behind the molding, Mr. Bibby just painted over what was hanging out at the bottom of the molding
13) Mr. Bibby used a solvent to remove the paint from my Italian leather living room sofas causing the dye to come off in several spots. There’s still white paint on one of the arms of the sofa and spatter elsewhere on all furniture; TV, end tables, lamps and etc.
14) Mr. Bibby failed to cover or protect my refrigerator during the demolition of the kitchen island and overhead cabinet. This failure caused the freezer door to get damaged by flying debris. (The refrigerator was less than 15 inches from the island during this demolition.)
15) Mr. Bibby failed to install baseboards in two areas; hallway wall and front entry wall
16) He failed to sand and prep all new crown moldings, baseboard moldings and eight doors before installing and painting
17) All table saw cuts are ragged cuts indicating that they were cut with a very dull saw blade or the wrong type of saw blade
18) Failed to prep all walls before painting. This failure left several blemishes to show through on the all walls after the paint was applied
19) The paint on the walls alongside moldings looks like the walls were painted on a boat dock – very wavy – no clean lines of paint are seen
20) There is poor paint coverage on some of the moldings and walls
21) All of the doors were not prepped before being painted. In addition, Mr. Bibby failed to paint all six sides of the eight new doors.
Due to all of the improper cuts made in the slabs for the door hinges, jambs and moldings, “nothing could be saved.” Rather, it all had to be ripped out and replaced. To try and fix and/or repair any of the unprofessional work Diamond Painting did would have cost me more money than it would have to rip everything out and start over which this process has already been completed. "Improper work" cannot be fixed!
As I was expressing my disapproval of the work done with Ms. Bibby at my side, our discussion became very heated as soon as I asked “if she could live with this horrible job if it were done in their house” Ms. Bibby immediately yelled to Mr. Bibby to “pack up his tools” and our discussion ended abruptly with no resolution. During our tour of the horrible work, Ms. Bibby refused to acknowledge any of the defects before leaving my home. Rather, Ms. Bibby stood silent. Diamond Painting did a very unprofessional job on every aspect of my project. It was obvious and as evidenced by the end result that Diamond Painting and Home Improvement does not have the skill set or knowledge on how to perform finish carpentry and/or do a professional paint job. Therefore, I couldn’t allow Diamond Painting to return to my home to correct and/or redo anything because as mentioned above, Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc. didn't have the skill set or knowledge of how to do a professional finished carpentry job and/or a professional paint job. I’ve already filed a formal complaint with the State Contractor’s Board for which Diamond Painting has been violated. I provided the Board with over 60 photographs of the damage and shoddy work. In addition I filed a claim for damages with their insurance company. Their agent spent two hours at my home documenting and photographing all of the shoddy work and damage. In addition, I provided them with a DVD full of photographs. I’ve been assured that in time, their insurance premiums will reflect the shoddy work Diamond Painting did on my home as now they are a high risk for future claims.
In addition, my formal complaint has also been made "public" on the Warwick, RI Better Business Bureau's website.
In the end, I had no choice but to hire another contractor to rip out all the work Diamond Painting did and start all over from ground zero for which I was forced to incur an additional $27,000.00. Estimates and/or receipts for this work will be provided upon request. The cost of the damage to my furniture, freezer door, floors, bedding and headboard are still outstanding with Diamond Painting and Home Improvement's insurance company. Insurance companies don't cover shoddy or unprofessional work performed only damages to property. I'm left sickened not only by being out the money but also by the condition they left my home in! The only resolution and the right thing for Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc. to do is to refund all of the money I paid to them. Not only did Diamond Painting do a very unprofessional job in all aspects of my project, but they also breached the contract by not “prepping” anything as noted in the Contract’s “Scope of Work Interior.” Therefore, I respectfully requested a “full refund” in the amount of $27,858.47.
Note: Attached are a few photos. There are many more photos but this site does not offer enough space to upload all there is to show.
Diamond Painting & Home Improvement, Inc. Reviews
I contracted with Diamond Painting and Home Improvement, Inc. located in Warwick, RI (hereinafter referred to “Diamond Painting”), to install crown molding top and bottom throughout my home; remove and install all new molding around windows, closets and doors, install eight “new” interior doors, remove three ceiling fans and repair ceilings, remove three-piece medicine cabinet in hall bath and paint 100% of the interior of my home. The project began on January 23, 2017 and ended on March 4, 2017. Toward the end of the project, I prepared a punch list of things that needed attention, fixed and/or corrected. The list was beyond a punch list, and the project was far from being completed in spite of Diamond Painting stating that “the scope of the work was done.” As I examined and discussed the shoddy work performed along with an itemized punch list with Ms. Bibby (president of Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc.) as we toured each room, I pointed out all of the unprofessional workmanship that was said to be completed. Ms. Bibby continued to recite that the “scope of the work was complete and Ms. Bibby demanded full payment.” The below list is not a complete list but does represent most of what went wrong with the work Diamond Painting performed in my home.
1) The very first door they hung was hung “upside down.” Mr. Bibby removed and replaced that door. The door hinges cut into the door slabs and/or door jambs were all cut improperly. Some hinges were installed deep into the wood and/or crooked causing tension on the new doors. This tension would not allow the doors to shut properly; they sprung open and one hall closet door ripped on the face side of the door below the top hinge. One bathroom door was left without even a door handle
2) Some doors were installed backwards with the vertical beveled edge on the wrong side
3) Improper cuts were made where crown molding was joined together. Gobs of caulking was applied in those large adjoining gaps. Mr. Bibby used way too much caulking on many of the moldings. In fact, there was so much caulking that when it was removed, it was the thickness of a “childs jump rope!” Joints were not joined tightly together on crown or base molding leaving wide gaps
4) After removal of the hall bath medicine cabinet, the holes in the walls were left unrepaired and unpainted yet Mr. Bibby painted the rest of the bathroom walls
5) Mr. Bibby got paint all over the door hardware, including the new door hinges
6) Many door handles were installed upside down or were mismatched e.g., brass on one side of the door and brushed nickel on the other side of the same door. Similarly, the handle on one side of the door was in the correct position yet the handle on the other side of the same door was upside down
7) Some AC ceiling registers were installed backwards e.g., directing the air flow toward the walls instead of out into the rooms. The screws used to reinstall those registers did not match. One bedroom register was left lying on the floor instead of being installed
8) Paint supplies, tools and trash were left on an unprotected hardwood bedroom floor without a tarp or construction paper under those items
9) One strip of base molding wasn’t even nailed to the wall in bedroom No. 2. In many areas, there was an over-abundance of nails in a short piece of molding (e.g., I counted 30 nails in a 29 inch wide piece of molding). On another transition piece of wood from the tile kitchen floor to the hallway floor, I counted over 30 nails in a 32 inch wide strip of transition wood
10) Many paint roller tracks were seen on the living room ceiling as if a partially dry roller was used. The cut-in paint along the edges of the ceiling appeared to be a different shade of white paint than what was applied in the middle of the ceiling. The area where the two ceiling fans were removed from was not properly sanded prior to being painted
11) Mr. Bibby failed to cover and/or protect my floors, living room furniture, headboard and bedding from paint spatter. “Nothing” was spared from paint spatter – it’s everywhere
12) A filler strip of wood used to fill in the gap between the wall and right side of the molding slipped down about five inches on the bow window in the living room. Instead of putting that strip of filler wood back into its correct position behind the molding, Mr. Bibby just painted over what was hanging out at the bottom of the molding
13) Mr. Bibby used a solvent to remove the paint from my Italian leather living room sofas causing the dye to come off in several spots. There’s still white paint on one of the arms of the sofa and spatter elsewhere on all furniture; TV, end tables, lamps and etc.
14) Mr. Bibby failed to cover or protect my refrigerator during the demolition of the kitchen island and overhead cabinet. This failure caused the freezer door to get damaged by flying debris. (The refrigerator was less than 15 inches from the island during this demolition.)
15) Mr. Bibby failed to install baseboards in two areas; hallway wall and front entry wall
16) He failed to sand and prep all new crown moldings, baseboard moldings and eight doors before installing and painting
17) All table saw cuts are ragged cuts indicating that they were cut with a very dull saw blade or the wrong type of saw blade
18) Failed to prep all walls before painting. This failure left several blemishes to show through on the all walls after the paint was applied
19) The paint on the walls alongside moldings looks like the walls were painted on a boat dock – very wavy – no clean lines of paint are seen
20) There is poor paint coverage on some of the moldings and walls
21) All of the doors were not prepped before being painted. In addition, Mr. Bibby failed to paint all six sides of the eight new doors.
Due to all of the improper cuts made in the slabs for the door hinges, jambs and moldings, “nothing could be saved.” Rather, it all had to be ripped out and replaced. To try and fix and/or repair any of the unprofessional work Diamond Painting did would have cost me more money than it would have to rip everything out and start over which this process has already been completed. "Improper work" cannot be fixed!
As I was expressing my disapproval of the work done with Ms. Bibby at my side, our discussion became very heated as soon as I asked “if she could live with this horrible job if it were done in their house” Ms. Bibby immediately yelled to Mr. Bibby to “pack up his tools” and our discussion ended abruptly with no resolution. During our tour of the horrible work, Ms. Bibby refused to acknowledge any of the defects before leaving my home. Rather, Ms. Bibby stood silent. Diamond Painting did a very unprofessional job on every aspect of my project. It was obvious and as evidenced by the end result that Diamond Painting and Home Improvement does not have the skill set or knowledge on how to perform finish carpentry and/or do a professional paint job. Therefore, I couldn’t allow Diamond Painting to return to my home to correct and/or redo anything because as mentioned above, Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc. didn't have the skill set or knowledge of how to do a professional finished carpentry job and/or a professional paint job. I’ve already filed a formal complaint with the State Contractor’s Board for which Diamond Painting has been violated. I provided the Board with over 60 photographs of the damage and shoddy work. In addition I filed a claim for damages with their insurance company. Their agent spent two hours at my home documenting and photographing all of the shoddy work and damage. In addition, I provided them with a DVD full of photographs. I’ve been assured that in time, their insurance premiums will reflect the shoddy work Diamond Painting did on my home as now they are a high risk for future claims.
In addition, my formal complaint has also been made "public" on the Warwick, RI Better Business Bureau's website.
In the end, I had no choice but to hire another contractor to rip out all the work Diamond Painting did and start all over from ground zero for which I was forced to incur an additional $27,000.00. Estimates and/or receipts for this work will be provided upon request. The cost of the damage to my furniture, freezer door, floors, bedding and headboard are still outstanding with Diamond Painting and Home Improvement's insurance company. Insurance companies don't cover shoddy or unprofessional work performed only damages to property. I'm left sickened not only by being out the money but also by the condition they left my home in! The only resolution and the right thing for Diamond Painting and Home Improvement Inc. to do is to refund all of the money I paid to them. Not only did Diamond Painting do a very unprofessional job in all aspects of my project, but they also breached the contract by not “prepping” anything as noted in the Contract’s “Scope of Work Interior.” Therefore, I respectfully requested a “full refund” in the amount of $27,858.47.
Note: Attached are a few photos. There are many more photos but this site does not offer enough space to upload all there is to show.